Callum Norfolk – Portfolio Blog

In my Iron Giant redesign, a scene shows several lasers shot down onto the Earth and destroying it. Instead of using a sound effect I wanted to try something experimental and a bit different to a normal gun shot, particularly as the Giant and the lasers in the dream appeared quite extra terrestrial. Through my interest in Star Wars I researched how to create the stormtrooper blaster sound effect, as I had previously heard about a few ways in how to re-create the sound. There were a few different ways fans had attempted this sound effect such as; attaching a slinky to metal and recording the material through an amp, or amplifying it through a cup.

In the studio I attached a slinky to a metal stand and tried recording in a few ways:

• Placing an AKG 414 near the middle of the slinky (cardioid and hyper cardioid).
• Placing an AKG 414 near the top of the slinky (cardioid and hyper cardioid).
• Attaching a contact microphone to the metal stand.
• Placing a condenser microphone next to a cup attached to the slinky, whilst it amplified the blaster sound.

The sound will require some manipulation and layering but the roar recording was successful. The research was also relevant to my Learning Outcomes 1 and 3.

Creating an ambience in my soundtracks are important as they set the locale of what is going on in the visual medium, and it particularly important to research as creating an ‘eerie feel’ to a scene for my animation client was one of her requirements. Investigating this is directly relevant to my Learning Outcomes 1 and 3.

Creating eerie ambience is quite similar to creating ghostly sounds, as it is sound that can’t be directly recognized or classified, like reversed, stretched (natural) sonic events and very high or very deeply pitched sounds. Uncontrolled rattling or rumbling sounds or very high ringing and suddenly dwelling and moving sounds can also be used. The easiest way to generate a dark, unsettling soundscape is to start with a dark drone. This could be a deep, LowPass-filtered Synth Sound or Roomtone, or a heavily pitch-shifted Ambience Sound (with at least 96kHz). It gets very interesting if that ambience has several sonic events in it, like a construction site ambience with hammering, drills and excavators. You can use several pitched and edited ambiences and layers, crossfade and mix them to get very unsettling textures. A suggested tool to use is iZotope’s Iris 2.

Reversing, pitch shifting and time shifting sounds make them instantly surreal, reverbs and delays to give it an otherworldly touch, especially if reverbs and delays are reversed. The reversed reverb effect can be achieved when you reverse a source (e.g. voice), apply some reverb to it (not too much and not too long) and reverse it all again. The result is the voice playing back normal again with a reversed reverb in front of each verb. Make it move with automation.

References

• Andersen, A. (2015). How To Create Horror Sound Effects That Are Truly Scary. [Online] Available at: https://www.asoundeffect.com/how-to-create-horror-sound-effects/. [Accessed: 20 April 2017].

I also needed to carry out ADR for the Giant’s grunts in my Iron Giant redesign. Learning how to make his voice sound professional and suited was important to the quality of my redesign, and therefore achieving learning outcomes 1 and 3. Logically, the character would make low-end iron/metal bangs and deep, distorted robotic grunts, so this is the style of ADR I aim to create for his voice.

I conducted research along the lines of monsters voices and vocalisations and found some interesting techniques to experiment with in my works. After recording your original roar recordings (your own voice for example) my research suggested to pitch shift, time shift and distort the sounds. Obviously the better the performance during ADR the more authentic the dialogue will sound, so this is something I will bare in mind when recording. Other interesting techniques my research suggested were Vocoding and Formant Morphing. Both can be used to blend two sounds and their characteristics with each other. For example, a human voice with an animal sound. I had previously read about this technique of layering with animal sounds from sound designer Jeff Shiffman, and this article of vocoding and formant morphing is a way for me to experiment with this. Simple, vocoding transfers the filter characteristics/modulation of one sound (voice, mouth) to another (Tiger growl). I will experiment with software called Waldorf Lector and Sugar Bytes Robotroni for Vocoding. Formant Morphing, however, I will use to seamlessly blend sound characteristics between each other.

Overall, the dialogue needed for the Giant is not extravagantly alien, extra terrestrial or even that different to a humans voice. However, he does need to sound like a scary, huge iron figure. So these are techniques I will use to get this deep voice after recording ADR.

References

• Andersen, A. 2015. How To Create Sound Effects That Are Truly Scary. [Online] Available at: https://www.asoundeffect.com/how-to-create-horror-sound-effects/. [Accessed: 22 April 2017].

Sound designer Jeff Shiffman, from Boom Box Post, has worked on an array of animation series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats and The Looney Tunes Show. He gives some interesting tips and insights based on his many years doing animation sound design.

Learning Outcome 1

Shiffman suggests previewing work with clients (without dialogue or music) addressing any notes. In our case the only dialogue is minimal laughter or grunts so we will just leave the music out. We can then preview the soundtrack to Charlotte with music and the animation can be predub mixed. When we have a final mix we will then bounce our project, show it to our client and see if she wants to make any final changes.

 “As for sourcing these sounds, we tend to go about it in one of three ways. Our first source (and my personal favorite) is synthesis. If the sound requires it, I jump at the chance to build something from scratch. Of course another great option is to record new material. There is no need (nor usually any time) to be crazy about recording techniques. Grab a mic and a portable recorder and get something down. Some of my absolute favorite recordings are total guerrilla efforts”. “As a third option, anything beyond the scope of recording and synthesizing can be filled in with high quality library recordings.” Recording original and new material has been a big factor in our project as we aimed to show that we are capable of recording new sounds and making them sound professional in the context of a redesign or soundtrack. This could be then shown on our business’ show reel, which theoretically will obtain us work in the industry.

Shiffman also stresses that almost everything he builds ends up in layers. It’s very rare that a single sound effect works well on its own and building a moment by layering different effects gives him another chance to make something new. This is another technique myself and Ben has found to be very effective, as one singular sound often sound very isolated and lacks depth and timbre (Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. 2004). Another approach Shiffman makes note of is layering real animal sounds under dialogue (growls, roars, breaths, etc). This gave me inspiration to try this in my Iron Giant redesign, possible a bear or an animal with deep vocals. It may not work but is something to experiment with.

Learning outcome 4

Shiffman states that he always tries to build a production schedule for his work and experimenting to be completed on time. This planning technique is something myself, Ben and even Charlotte (our client) have been using in order to complete the project. This schedule is based around Lee’s tutorial advice of creating a ‘tick sheet’ to lay out the recordings needed and when we will record, edit and mix them. Shiffman also recommends building your sound library with every project you do, this way it you can easily access particular sounds you may need for future editing. However he does also argue, that building a library on a project from scratch and relying less on existing material will make your project sound original. Which is exactly what myself and Ben have done when working on our soundtracks.

References

• Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2004). Film art: an introduction. Boston, McGraw-Hill.
• Andersen, A. 2015. Sound Advice: The Key To Outstanding Animation Sound Design. [Online]. Available at: https://www.asoundeffect.com/animation-sound-design/. [Accessed: 1 May 2017].